Sam Varghese
Tuesday, 03 November 2009 07:48
Opinion and Analysis
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Ten, or even five years ago, it was not uncommon to see articles surface periodically, spouting gross untruths about free and open source software.
The frequency with which such articles appear has lessened to a marked degree simply because people who pen them often end up being branded as fools.
In an era when this genre of software was less known and had a much smaller pool of users, it was possible to spread misinformation on the known premise that if mud is thrown, then some is likely to stick.
But these days that doesn't happen so often. Still, when it does, the author deserves to have his "arguments" examined in the cold light of day.
The
latest bit of misinformation comes from a company known as SirsiDynix which makes software for libraries. I'm talking about the hallowed buildings that house books, what we call hard copies these days.
The document, composed by one Stephen Abram, the company's chief strategist and vice-president for innovation, initially surfaced at the Wikileaks site.
As an aside, let me remind Abram here that trying to spread misinformation about free and open source software is neither innovative nor good strategy. Maybe the company should rethink those designations.
I've been watching people trying to spread FUD about FOSS for the last 12 years and not one has succeeded. They've all been shot down in flames. Some of the hardy veterans who have been countering the FUD, people like the erudite David F. Skoll of the Canadian company
Roaring Penguin, are still around and still firing back.
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